Deepak Fertilisers soars

Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation was locked at upper limit of 20% to Rs 141.20 at 14:39 IST on BSE after the company said it signed a joint venture with Norway's fertilser group Yara.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 437.92 points, or 2.35%, to 18225.24 after another negative US economic data sparked fears the world's largest economy may face recession.

On BSE, 4.85 shares of the scrip were traded. The stock had an average daily volume of 1.67 lakh shares on BSE in past one quarter.

The scrip had touched a low of Rs 112.25 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 178.25 on 2 January 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 75.30 on 6 March 2007.

The scrip had underperformed the market in the one month to 5 February 2008, sliding 28.38% as against the Sensex's 10.33% decline. It had also underperformed the market in the past three months, falling 13.87% against the Sensex's 3.25% slide.

The mid-cap fertilizer firm has an equity capital of Rs 88.20 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

At the current price of Rs 141.20, the scrip trades at a PE multiple of 12.72, based on Q3 December 2007 annualised EPS of Rs 11.10.

The joint venture, in which Deepak Fertilisers will own 51% and Yara the balance 49%, will focus on production and marketing of technical ammonium nitrate and specialty fertilizers, the company said in a release to BSE.

Norway-based Yara International ASA, is a $14 billion global leader in ammonia, speciality and bulk fertilizers and ammonium nitrate (AN), industrial gases and other diversified chemical and pollution control products.

Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation's net profit fell 1.1% to Rs 24.47 crore on 12.6% rise in sales to Rs 273.99 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Deepak Fertilizers manufactures ammonia, fertiliser, concentrated nitric acid, ammonium nitrate and diluted nitric acid. The company has also commissioned a methanol plant.